The finish line is in sight. All of us have worked hard to see our Republican candidates elected on November 4th. We have two weeks to fight, to work, and to make sure that our Republican nominees win their elections.

I know that we all have other commitments in our lives. We all work, and take care of our families, and have responsibilities at our church, and at our other community organizations. We never have as much time as we need to do all of the things we want.

And yet, you have found the time to be involved. You have found the time to participate in our Republican conventions; to make phone calls; to knock on doors; and to talk to friends and family about our candidates. Now we all need to give just a little more time so we make certain that we send representatives to Washington who are committed to fulfilling the RPV Creed (http://rpv.org/about/virginia-republican-creed/ ), rather than committed to fighting against it.

I had the pleasure of meeting many of you as I traveled around Virginia as a United States Senate candidate. But I saw things up close – the problems in our party lately. I saw some big fights, some controversial parliamentary maneuvers, and some heated disputes. There is no hiding from that fact, and those discussions and arguments will go on again in the coming months. But the next two weeks are not about that. They are about getting our party’s nominees across the finish line. Even though my first choice didn’t secure the nomination in every race, I know that each of the Republican nominees this year is far better than the alternatives on the ballot.

We have local races around the Commonwealth, as well as our U.S. House and U.S. Senate races. After a recent campaign rally in Fredericksburg, I stayed after to make some phone calls for our candidates, and took this picture, where I’m wearing campaign stickers for Dave Brat, Ed Gillespie, and Rob Wittman. I think these three stickers capture the three types of races we have for federal office this year.

– Rob Wittman, represents our 1st Congressional District. He, along with Scott Rigell in the 2nd District, Randy Forbes in the 4th District, Robert Hurt in the 5th District, Bob Goodlatte in the 6th District, and Morgan Griffith in the 9th Dstrict are our incumbents. They’ve been representing the people of Virginia in DC, working hard every day, and fighting for us.

– Ed Gillespie is trying to defeat incumbent U.S. Senator Mark Warner. He, along with Micah Edmond in the 8th District, and Suzanne Scholte in the 11th District, are fighting so those seats might be filled with Republicans who support and celebrate our Constitution, rather than continuing to have them filled by Democrats who never met a tax or federal overreach they didn’t like.

– Dave Brat in the 7th District, and Barbara Comstock in the 10th District, are working to make sure that the Virginians in those districts continue to be represented by Republicans and by our shared values.

Each of these candidates works hard, day in and day out, to represent our party, our beliefs and our values. I ask each of you to find a little more time to help them win on November 4th. An hour or two in the next few days can make a world of difference for years to come. I’ll be working as an election official here, in Stafford County on Election Day. Between now and then, I’ll be making phone calls, knocking on doors, and handing out campaign literature. As you know, each of these actions makes a small, but very real, impact.

And one more note, I’d like to congratulate Ed Gillespie on closing the gap so well against Mark Warner. Ed has been running a great campaign, and Virginians are taking notice that Mark has been playing the same political games as President Obama and Governor McAuliffe. Ed can win this election if we can get the vote out for him, especially in districts where we don’t expect other competitive races.
In Liberty,
Tony DeTora